Saturday, June 29

For the past few months I've been enjoying Chuck Wendig's posts about writing, and they just keep getting better!

11 Ways To Become A Better Writer

1. Write.

Have you written today? If not, stop reading this and go write something. Seriously. Go.

Chuck Wendig writes:

"Stop talking about writing. Stop reading about writing. Stop dreaming
about writing. Stop doing things that don’t qualify as writing. The
thing that defines a writer is that the writer writes."

2. Do what works for you.

Writers talk a lot about what works for them, and that's great, but it's important to remember that just because something works (or doesn't work) for someone else doesn't mean it will (/won't) work for you.

The only way you'll know what works for you is to write. CW writes:

I don’t have answers. Neil Gaiman doesn’t have answers. Jane Austen didn’t have them. Nobody has answers. We have ideas. Suggestions. Possibilities. The only writer who has answers about your writing is you. Advice is just advice. ... You are your own Muse.

That said, Neil Gaiman gave one of the best pieces of writing advice I've read, one that has helped me enormously. The following is from Neil Gaiman's Pep Talk for NaNoWriMo participants.

The last novel I wrote (it was ANANSI BOYS, in case you were wondering) when I got three-quarters of the way through I called my agent. I told her how stupid I felt writing something no-one would ever want to read, how thin the characters were, how pointless the plot. I strongly suggested that I was ready to abandon this book and write something else instead, or perhaps I could abandon the book and take up a new life as a landscape gardener, bank-robber, short-order cook or marine biologist. And instead of sympathising or agreeing with me, or blasting me forward with a wave of enthusiasm—or even arguing with me—she simply said, suspiciously cheerfully, “Oh, you’re at that part of the book, are you?”

I was shocked. “You mean I’ve done this before?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Not really.”

“Oh yes,” she said. “You do this every time you write a novel. But so do all my other clients.”

I didn’t even get to feel unique in my despair.

So I put down the phone and drove down to the coffee house in which I was writing the book, filled my pen and carried on writing.

One word after another.

That's the key. Write one word after the other.

I know, it sounds absurd, like telling a person they need to breathe to stay alive, but the next time you're stuck, try to remember that even brilliant writers like Neil Gaiman get stuck too. All you need to do is write one word after another. Don't think about the whole novel, or about what you've written, just think about the next word. Write that word, then write another one, and so on.

3. Good grammar matters.

4. Your first stories will likely suck.

I know my first stories sucked. Nothing happened in them. I'd never heard of character arcs.

In my early stories I got hung up all the time, I'd wander off onto a storytelling ledge and wonder why I couldn't write the second half. Gah! I really wish there'd been more information in those days about how to create dramatic tension/narrative drive, or even moderately interesting characters.

Also, though, it takes time. And practice. And I don't think the practice ever really stops. We continue to learn, to grow.

5. Ignore the naysayers

There's always, always, going to be someone--probably a lot of someones--who put you down, who tell you that you can't do it, who say that either you're not talented or that people aren't reading the kind of stories you're writing, or that no one is buying books anymore, or ... the list is endless.

Ignore them.

6. Learn to say "yes" more than you say "no"

This one is all Chuck Wendig. I have friends like this, people who not only say "Yes" but "Hell yes!" to just about anything they're asked, whether it is to do an interview, or to judge a contest, or comment on a novel.

And I think it's great advise.

But it's advice I haven't been able to take. I've had to say "no" a lot, no to reading and commenting on novels, no to doing reviews, no to being on panels. Why? Because I'm zealously guarding my writing time.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not anti-social. I would love to read every novel sent to me and give it a review, but I can't do that and maintain my writing schedule. And what do writers do? They write.

Writing comes first. Writing always comes first.

7. Don't make excuses.

I want to stress, though, that of course life events will affect one's writing. Tragic events happen. My father died last year and that had a profound effect on me both as a person and a writer. I didn't write for at least two months after his death.

On the other hand, if a few weeks go by and you're always giving reasons for why you couldn't write, perhaps think about where writing is in terms of your priorities. There's nothing wrong with not writing. In fact, if writing is something you constantly want to avoid and is creating all sorts of stress, perhaps you need to put that dream aside for now and go on to other things.

8. Figure out what you love about stories.

Chuck Wendig writes:

Realize what you love about stories, and bring that love to bear on the
page. Let the audience in on that love. Your love should be viral, like
cat videos or the norovirus.

Amen.

I think points 7 and 8 are related. If someone loves writing they'll come up with excuses to avoid doing other things to scavenge more time to write.

9. Quit chasing your voice.

Chuck Wendig writes:

You will never find your voice. It isn’t a car and you aren’t a dog
chasing it. It’s not a pearl in an oyster or an elk in the forest. Your
voice is who you are. The way you think. The way you speak when you’re
not thinking about how you speak. You are your voice. If anything it’s like a lost key. It’ll turn up just when you stop hunting for it.

Great advice! I think this--finding your voice--is one thing writing blog posts can help with.

10. Make the reader feel, make them think.

Chuck Wendig writes:

The best two things your story can do is to stir my emotions and to
challenge my assumptions. Make me feel something (rage! lust! love!
grief!). Make me think something (what is the nature of evil? what is
the enemy of empathy? ...).

11. The Secret

CW writes:

The secret to writing is so simple it tickles: Write as much as you
can. As fast as you can. Finish ... Hit your deadlines. Try very
hard not to suck. That’s it. That’s my secret.

That's it. That's every successful author's recipe for success: hard work and good luck.

My Plan For Writerly Success

a) Write.

Writers write
Writers often have a daily goal--they want to write X number of words--but I find I work better if I have a weekly goal. I write short, so my rewriting mostly consists of filling in scenes. That means I'll write a variable amount each day but a (more or less) consistent amount each week.

Also, rather than concentrate on the number of words I write a day I concentrate on the number of words I publish a month.

Write in many genres
Some writers have written in many genres and they know, not only what they like to write, but what they are best at writing.

I'm not one of those people, not yet, so I've set out to write a few stories in each major genre. At least, each major genre I like to either read or watch. Surprisingly, I've found writing horror stories rather fun.

Write stories of different lengths
I've been writing stories of all lengths: flash fiction, short stories, novellas and novels.

I know that there has been a lot of talk about what size story is the most lucrative--short story, novella or novel--and I think the verdict is in: the novel. (Though I tend to think that if several novellas, if they were in a series, were bundled together, that could sell just as well.)

Still, since I'm exploring a number of genres, it's much more sensible for me to write short stories than novels!

b) Finish what I write.

It is good advice to finish what you start but I think it's better to lay a story aside than force an artificial finish if you're stuck.

The best writers in the world have gotten stuck in the middle of a story. You know what this is like, right? You have a great idea for a story, you're writing gangbusters and then, after a certain point, nothing. It's like staring off the end of the world.

I've had stories like that--not many, but a few--and rather than forcing a finish, I put them aside. It has taken me years to finish some of those stories but, now, I'm picking them back up and completing them. And it feels fantastic!

So, yes, finish what you write but don't force it. Don't fear putting a story aside but, after you've consigned it to it's shoe box, do shift your focus and write something else.

One of the benefits of either doing an outline or writing the first draft sparely and quickly is that one knows, in broad strokes, what happens. It doesn't matter if there are gaps, you can go back and fill those in later.

But everyone's different. That's what I've been finding works for me.

c) Determine which stories are the most popular with readers

Focus on readers, not writers
I'm interested in which stories are popular with readers, not writers. Yes, I love knowing what my friends and acquaintances think of my work, but many writers read like editors. That is, their literary taste is more like the average editor than the average reader. That's fine if one is submitting to editors or agents but not if one is putting ones work directly in front of readers.

d) No matter what, keep writing and publishing and learning.

Never give up, no matter what
You will fail occasionally. As Seth Godin says, if you don't fail occasionally, you're not trying. The key is not to give up. After all, the only way to get better is to continue putting yourself out there, continue getting feedback.

Comedians and risking failure

I love reading articles by comedians. Writers have it easy, we can work out our new material in the privacy of our offices. Comedians have it tough, they work out their new material in front of strangers and routinely get either ignored or heckled. But they keep doing it, they keep building up material.

"You gotta commit. ... You're goin' out there with just a whisper of an idea. The fear will
make you clench up. That's the fear of dying. When you start and the
first few lines don't grab and people are going like, "What's this? I'm
not laughing and I'm not interested," then you just put your arms out
like this and open way up and that allows your stuff to go out.
Otherwise it's just stuck inside you."

It's important for writers to open up to failure as well. Of course we don't have to write in front of a live audience, we can write in the privacy of our office and publish it on a smaller site or hand it out to beta readers. The important thing is that we don't stop trying when we fall on our face.

The other article is by Paton Oswalt: A Closed Letter To Myself About Thievery, Heckling And Rape Jokes. PO's overall goal in the article is to talk about whether there are any subjects that are out of bounds, whether there are kinds of jokes that should never be told. It's a wonderful, thoughtful, article. Why I'm mentioning it here, though, is because he talks about what it was like for him as a young comedian, what it takes to make it in that business. Worth the read.

Okay! That's it for me today. Back to writing. I'll talk to you again tomorrow. :-)

Monday, June 24

When Bad Things Need To Happen To Good Characters

The following advice comes from Rick Mofina, a former journalist whose "crime thrillers have been published in 21 countries."

Always launch your story with a conflict confronting your protagonist. It should be a problem that mounts. For example, a lost wallet leads to identity theft, which leads to mistaken identity and something far worse. The conflict you give your hero could threaten their way of life, their community, or someone they love. (Seven deadly writing tips)

1. HOOK

You have, at most, two pages to grab a reader. You have to grab
them in the first scene, in the first sentence. How do you do this? You
create a question in the readers mind. The reader must answer the question to understand the sentence. This is like foreshadowing, but it is less obvious. A hook is implicit foreshadowing.

2. PLOT

How does the plot build suspense? Imagine you're driving down
the road and you see a car in the ditch. What is going to happen? Everyone will slow down to look at the car and they'll wonder:
What happened? It is part of our nature.

3. CONFLICT & CHARACTER = SUSPENSE

- Have reversals. Characters should be frustrated at most turns. Here's the trick: the plot should be inevitable but not predictable. The plot should not be the same thing you and your readers have seen dozens of times. How do you avoid this?

THE KEY: The reader should always know slightly more than the character. Let the reader know an event is coming before the character does.

- In order to create suspense, the readers' expectations must be both met and undermined. What we are talking about here is shameless manipulation. You are telling people lies in order to get the response you want.

I constantly have to remind myself not to flinch. I want my characters lives to be effortlessly wonderful but that wouldn't make for an interesting story.

+Steve Devonport was kind enough to point me to this article, The 4-Act Story Diamond, by Belzecue. In it the author makes an excellent case that it is much easier to write stories with four acts rather than three. (If you have no idea what I'm talking about, take a peek at my blog on story structure.)

Whatever your opinion about the appropriate number of acts, I do think the four act structure could be useful when writing a horror story, a point made especially well by Belzecue's story diagram.

The Four Act Structure

Here's how Belzecue describes the four act structure:

REALM 1

The hero's Ordinary World.

This is the realm that the hero knows -- he knows the terrain and how to live in it. But here is just your average Joe Public, although he displays hero potential.

REALM 2

The Netherworld.

This is the realm the novice hero must pass through to reach the Kingdom of Evil. This territory is unknown, frightening and wonderful. Here, the hero is swept along on an inexorable tide that leads to ...

REALM 3
The Kingdom of Evil.

Here the forces of evil are the masters. This is their home turf, where they are strongest. The hero is gonna have to be very clever to avoid capture.

REALM 4

Back to the Netherworld.

Only now the hero knows the rules and expectations of this realm. He'll need this knowledge to help him evade the pursuit by the Bad Guys.

NOTES ON THE ACTS.

- Each act is the reflection of it's opposite. Realm 1 is the opposite of Realm 3, just as Realm 2 is the flipside of Realm 4. Where in Act One the hero feels relatively safe, secure, and in control, in Act Three he faces mortal danger, uncertainty, discomfort, etc.

- In Act Four, the flight, the helpers of Act Two reverse to become hinderers (revealed to be agents of evil all along), the hinderers of Act Two reverse to become helpers (swapping sides to join the forces of good).

- The development of the hero shows a similar opposition between Act 1 & 3 and Act 2 & 4. In Act One the hero is a powerless orphan; in Act Three he has become a powerful warrior. In Act Two he is a wanderer in the Netherworld, acting on his own behalf and being pulled or lead toward the domain of evil; by Act Four the hero has become a Martyr working for society, leading the way instead of following. (The 4-Act Paradigm)

Three Acts: Get your hero up a tree, throw rocks at him, then get him down

Instead of getting your hero up a tree (first act), throwing rocks at him (creating conflict in the second act) and getting him down (third act) Belzecue suggests that it would be more interesting to whip out a chainsaw in the third act and start cutting the tree down!

And he's probably right. We want to ramp up the conflict, the tension. Belzecue writes:

I swear, if I hear once more that line about "Get your hero up a tree, throw rocks at him, then get him down"... It's a god-awful illustration of the three-act structure and an even worse representation of storytelling. ....

So what on earth does that pithy gem describe, really? I get that the 'up a tree' part stands for Act One: the inciting incident, the trigger, the destabilisation of the hero's world, jeopardy. And I get that the 'rocks' represent Act Two and conflict. It's not mentioned but it's a given that the rocks get larger and meaner with each throw, to create rising conflict.

... then get him down... ?? Is it just me or is that just a teensy bit anti-climactic? As a third act that simply will not do. Not around here.

Having exhausted our supply of rocks, it's time to get serious about making tree-guy suffer. Remember that chainsaw you stole from the set of Evil Dead: Army of Darkness? (Yes, I know about that; No, I never told The Chin, but I think he suspects.) Go get it. Because the writer's job is not to get the hero out of the tree. Your job is to make your protagonists suffer to the point where they have only one way out, where only one thing can transform the suffering into a solution: change.

I'm talking earthquake-fault-line-sized change. I'm talking about straddling the abyss with one foot on either side as it groans and cracks and widens beneath your hero, forcing a decision to go left or right, zig or zag, one way or the other, or do nothing and perish. At that moment, for the hero, standing still is no longer an option.

Tuesday, June 18

This morning I was writing a horror story and I realized that the structure of a classic horror story is different than the typical hero's journey.

In this post I ask, and attempt to answer, two questions:

1) What exactly is the structure of a horror story?
2) What is the purpose of a horror story? What is it supposed to accomplish? How will we know whether we've succeeded or failed?

Let's take this in parts.

The Purpose of a Horror Story

What is a good horror story supposed to do? What is its function? That's easy! It's supposed to terrify, or at least deeply disturb. If you're not horrified by the end, then the story could be great and wonderful, but it's not a horror story.

The initial situation/The ordinary world

Perhaps the hero goes on a date, perhaps they meet friends, perhaps they go on a road trip. This is a great place to introduce your characters. Foreshadow the dangers to come.

For example: A mother plays a game of hide-and-seek with her children. (This example is, in part, based on this.)

b. There's a problem

Something goes wrong.

For example: The mother can't find her children. The college students on the road trip get lost. In The Cabin In The Woods the GPS breaks.

At some point in the first act the theme or moral might be stated. For instance, in The Cabin In The Woods, 8.5 minutes into the movie Marty says, "Society needs to crumble, we're all just too chickenshit to let it."

c. Warning

Something happens that would give a reasonable person second thoughts about the wisdom of going forward.

For instance, when college students pull up at a gas station looking for gas and directions they are berated then given directions by someone wearing worn overalls and in dire need of dental work. (A marvelous twist is put on this trope by Tucker and Dale Versus Evil.)

Break into act two: the protagonist makes a choice

It seems to me that the break into act two occurs when the protagonist willfully ignores the warning. And that's the key word, it must be an act of will, the hero must choose to ignore the warning. At least, ordinarily. I'm sure there are horror movies that violate this rule.

Ordinarily, act two begins when the hero accepts the quest. I guess one way of looking at this is to say that, in a horror story, by ignoring the warning, the hero tacitly accepts the quest.

Initial problem is either solved or changed

Almost immediately upon entering act two the problem changes.

This is another difference from the normal story structure. Usually the problem changes, then the hero accepts the quest. It seems that in a horror often the hero ignores the warning and then either fulfills their initial goal or the initial goal changes.

For example, in The Cabin, the college students ignore the (implicit) warning and then complete their initial goal of finding the cabin. The cabin, and the area around the cabin, is the Special World of the adventure. At this point they begin exploring the cabin and try to figure out what kind of a place it is.

Other examples: The mother realizes that her kids are missing. Her goal is no longer to find where they're hiding. She knows they're gone. Now her goal is to find out who took her kids and get them back.

Fake solution

Often there is a fake solution. Something happens, an event, and the protagonist feels either that the problem has been solved, or that someone else more skilled/competent is there to handle the crisis.

For example, the mother can't find her children so she calls the police. Asuspiciously short time later a police officer arrives, someone she knows, someone who can take care of everything.

Fake villain

Often when there's a fake solution, the protagonist--perhaps with the help of the real villain--begins to suspect one of her friends/allies. The fake threat is contained and the protagonist relaxes. Not long afterward, the real killer reveals himself/herself. Often they reveal themselves by slipping up in some way, for instance revealing information they shouldn't have had, or that only the killer could have had.

Climax

Protagonist and antagonist/villain fight. Usually the protagonist will win, but in a horror that often doesn't happen, not only does the protagonist lose, but their fate is worse than we ever could have imagined.

Don't forget to include a few red shirts which die in horrible, grizzly, so-gross-you-can't-watch ways.

A horror movie has certain rules. If you break too many the audience will be disappointed.

This is a very short, no fluff, blueprint of how to write a horror script.

The
Hook. Start with a bang. Step right into a suspense scene. ("Scream"
opens with a terrifying sequence with Drew Barrymore on the phone with a
killer)

The Flaw. Introduce your hero. Give him a flaw.
Before you can put your hero in jeopardy we must care for him. We must
want our hero to succeed. So make him human. (In "Signs" Mel Gibson
plays a priest who has lost his faith after his wife died)

The
Fear. A variant of The Flaw. The hero has a fear. Maybe a fear of
heights, or claustrophobia. (In "Jaws" Roy Scheider has a fear of water.
At the end he has to conquer his fear by going out onto the ocean to
kill the shark)

No Escape. Have your hero at an isolated location where he can't escape the horror. (Like the hotel in "The Shining")

Foreplay.
Tease the audience. Make them jump at scenes that appear scary -- but
turn out to be completely normal. (Like the cat jumping out of the
closet) Give them some more foreplay before bringing in the real
monster.

Evil Attacks. A couple of times during the middle of the script show how evil the monster can be -- as it attacks its victims.

Investigation. The hero investigates, and finds out the truth behind the horror.

Showdown.
The final confrontation. The hero has to face both his fear and the
monster. The hero uses his brain, rather than muscles, to outsmart the
monster. (At the end of "The Village" the blind girl tricks the monster
to fall into the hole in the ground)

Aftermath.
Everything's back to the way it was from the beginning -- but the hero
has changed for the better or for the worse. (At the end of "Signs" Mel
Gibson puts on his clerical collar again -- he got his faith back)

Evil
Lurks. We see evidence that the monster may return
somewhere..somehow..in the future..(Almost all "Friday The 13'th"-movies
end with Jason showing signs of returning for another sequel)

I'd like to add my own piece of advice: Read as many indie success stories as you can and examine what they did.

I'm not suggesting you do exactly what anyone else has done--Amanda Hocking once lived off of Red Bull and sweet-tarts for a week while she wrote Switched--but it shows you that the one thing they all had in common is that a) they published and b) they didn't give up in the face of criticism.

The main thing is to do it! Don't edit your work forever. Put it out there and let readers give you feedback. I often publish stories on Smashwords first; I've found the feedback from readers there is excellent.

Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp's Morphology Of The Folktale

0. Introduce the hero

A folktale usually begins with some sort of initial situation. The members
of a family are enumerated, or else the future hero is introduced (i.e.,
a soldier) in some manner; either his name is revealed or his status
is indicated.

By the way, what follows draws heavily on the above article. All I'm doing here is laying out Propp's points with a bit of commentary.

1. ABSENCE. One of the members of a family is absent from home.

This can come in many forms:

a. Absence. Someone, often a parent or hero him/herself leaves

Here are a few possibilities:
- The person absent is a parent or caregiver
- A ruler (prince, king, etc.)
- Merchant or business person who goes off on to ply his/her trade
- Hero goes to work
- Hero goes exploring (into the deep, dark, forest; into a bad part of the city; into a diary/journal that isn't his/hers)
- Soldier goes to war
- Hero's parents leave (one way they may leave is through death)
- Children walk over to neighbors/go fishing/explore an old mine
- Children go for a walk in the forbidden forest (the bad side of town) to pick berries (to see a movie)

b. Interdiction. Hero is told not to do something

- "Take care of your brother, do not venture forth from the courtyard."
- If someone you don't recognize comes to the door, don't talk to them. (Or, more simply, 'Don't talk to strangers.')
- King/merchant/father: stay in the tower and do not leave.
- Do not pick the apples in the neighbor's yard/Do not get your ball if it lands in the neighbor's yard.
- Do not open the chest.
- Do not kiss the girl/boy.

However, rather than being told not to do something, the hero may be given a command:

- Bring your father/mother his/her lunch as he/she works in the fields.
- Take your brother/sister with you when you go fishing/to the amusement park/out to the movies with your friends.

c. The possibility of misfortune

The possibility of misfortune is what is nascent in (a) and (b), above. Combining the two we have:
- The merchant has a tree that produces golden apples but the moment he or his offspring injure another tree it will die. The merchant tells his son/daughter to stay out of the woods, fearing they will inadvertently injure a tree. One day when he is out of town ... You know the rest.

Generally, this seems to be the formula for this first of the 31 points: If you X then your prosperity will end, but you're not allowed to tell anyone why. For instance, the merchant with the tree that bears golden fruit would not tell his children why they couldn't go into the woods.

Well! That's the first of Propp's 31 points and we've just gotten started.

Wednesday, June 12

It’s not easy to translate concepts that feel like hot sparks of brilliance into words that actually ignite a reader’s soul .... Those of us who know how special that feeling is—when the passion of our story emerges in a seeming explosion of inspired beauty—want to be able to “get to that place” as often as we can. But is there a way to do that?

The answer is yes! And C.S. Lakin helps guide the way:

How to fan your creative fire:

1. Change the scenery.

"And maybe it’s not beauty and sublimity you need. Perhaps for you, sitting in a crowded cafe in a foreign land does wonders for sparking ideas—the fresh change of scenery an inspiration. The point being—getting out of your rut and routine can sometimes be the antidote for mundane writing and uninspired thinking."

2. Write at a different time, perhaps early in the morning

"You may feel you only write well or can concentrate early in the morning. Try setting the alarm and getting up a few hours earlier.
Take a shower to shake off your sleepiness and then in the quiet before
dawn, try writing that scene you have planned to tackle. If you can’t
write at night because you’re just too tired, try taking a walk to
invigorate yourself (or some other type of exercise) and then sit down
after dark and try writing. You may surprise yourself. Sometimes by
attempting to write at a time you normally don’t can fire up your little
gray cells."

3. Read before you write

"Some writers, like my favorite mystery writer Elizabeth George, spend a half hour or so reading a great book before beginning to write
for the day. Reading really well-written books, whether novels or
nonfiction, can inspire and spur some on to passionate writing."

You could always try a combination of ways! Take an early morning walk to your favorite coffee house, perhaps buying a cinnamon bun on the way, one fresh out of the oven. After you've ordered your favorite beverage, read for a bit before you write.

I think these tips by C.S. Lakin are marvelous. I already read before I write, but I like to read books that are similar to what I'm writing. For instance, something in the same genre written from the same point of view.

Tuesday, June 11

This is a writing blog, not a movie blog, but I've always wondered why some movies--movies with the same stars in them--do well and some don't. For instance, Old School and Wedding Crashers cleaned up at the boxoffice but The Internship is struggling to compete.

Movies are just stories told with images and sound while books are stories told solely through language. At some level, a story's a story. All things being equal, we'd like to sell our stories, our books, as widely as possible, so understanding what readers/viewers like couldn't hurt.

If that's possible.

Google: Can Predict Box Office With 94% Accuracy

The finding that Google can predict box office with 94% accuracy indicates to me that, most of the time, the decision whether to see a movie is made solely based on marketing rather than word of mouth. That is, it's made before anyone sees the movie.

I wouldn't be surprised if it is similar in the book world. Readers want a book in a certain genre, or by a certain author, or one that's like another book.

I've been using Box Office Mojo to track movie stats; how much a movie was made for, how much it grossed, and so on. It looks like The Internship, the latest movie by comedy duo Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, is going to be lucky to break even.

Why?

Is it the subject matter? Was the subject matter of Vaughn's earlier movies, Old School and Wedding Crashers more primal? These earlier movies were about life transitions, marriage, death. But, in a way, so is The Internship. The movie explores the lives of two guys displaced by technology, two guys who are struggling to succeed in a rapidly changing world that deems them obsolete.

Well, when I put it like that, the movie seems a bit depressing! (grin)

What do you think is the biggest determinant of whether someone will see a movie or read a book?

Monday, June 10

Years ago I began a story based around the structure of one of my favorite Star Trek episodes, but I got stuck. Toward the end of the story, what my characters needed to do was different than what the characters had done in the episode; I needed a slightly different structure but got stumped.

Well.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up the story again and everything came together, everything except for the most important bit: the ending.

I didn't know what to do so I surfed over to TvTropes.org and read about Kirk, Spock and McCoy. Let me just say: Wow! I'm probably not going to use all the information I found in my story, but I'll use some of it.

One thing I love about studying tropes is being able to give a certain situation, one that recurs often, a name. Anyway, I thought the following was just plain fun (as well as useful) so I wanted to share.

The Power Trio

We've all read and watched countless instances of this trope but before I get to examples lets talk about psychology. Specifically ...

Freudian Trio

TvTropes.org:

Among a Power Trio of the "two Foils + balance" variety, one of the most common subtropes has the three characters have psychological positions based on the Freudian idea of the Id, the Ego and the Superego.

Freud defined the human psyche as consisting of three parts: the Id, which represented emotional and instinctual desires; the Superego, which represented the logical and intellectual reasoning (or rules and social conventions, which is how Freud actually used the term); and the Ego, which reconciled the Id and Superego. Likewise, the Freudian Trio consists of three characters: one who acts emotionally and instinctively, one who acts with cold, passionless logic and one who reconciles the two conflicting ideals. (Freudian Trio)

Examples:

The Kirk

Rounding out the archetypal Freudian Trio with The Spock and The McCoy, The Kirk must balance these opposing personalities while being able to take their advice and choose between them (or literally, choose "between them") without being overcome either by emotion or dispassionate logic, representing what in Freudian psychology is called the ego.

Usually, The Kirk is The Captain or a similar leader who needs to be practical rather than emotional or distant. It's not impossible for a show to have The McCoy or The Spock as the leader, but they'll have to be far more ideologically flexible than they would otherwise. (The Kirk)

The Third Option

In any situation Spock and McCoy are pretty much guaranteed to be at loggerheads. McCoy looks at the world through his feelings, his emotions, while Spock is dispassionately logical. Or at least that's the setup.

Often this problem is solved by choosing a Third Option:

In most Power Trio scenarios, when The Spock advocates one course of action and The McCoy insists upon the other, The Kirk will be particularly fond of using this method as a solution to the problem of the week. This is also the best way to deal with a Xanatos Gambit. A true Magnificent Bastard will have anticipated that, though. (Take A Third Option)

Kirk Summation

A Kirk Summation is ...

A speech
made by the hero to the villain just before the climactic fight in
which he points out exactly why what the villain is doing is wrong, and
begs him to forswear his ways.

This rarely works but he had to try: that's what makes him the hero. (Kirk Summation)

If the Kirk Summation doesn't cause the Big Bad to give up in a fit of despair, the Villain might give the hero a Breaking Speech.

Breaking Speech

This is often achieved by a kind of "The Reason You Suck" Speech, telling the other character how pathetic they are or perhaps how guilty of something terrible, perhaps Not So Different from someone unpalatable, but there are other ways of breaking someone down by talking. You could for example instead deconstruct the world, other characters, or their relationship with the victim. The important part is that they can't deny your words, at least not in the heat of the moment, and you gain a psychological advantage over them. Uncomfortable truths (or at least half-truths) and logical arguments are effective for making claims hard to deny, but hitting emotional weak spots is also important and can work even if your statements are not truly reasonable. (Break Them By Talking)

"You look like you're going to spend your life having one epiphany after another, always thinking you've finally figured out what's holding you back, and how you can finally be productive and creative and turn your life around. But nothing will ever change. That cycle of mediocrity isn't due to some obstacle. It's who you are. The thing standing in the way of your dreams... is that the person having them is you."
— xkcd, "Pickup Artist"

[The Superman Problem:] If your main character will always make the right decision and can
always defeat any bad guy, your story is boring because it has no
tension. (The Superman Problem, and ...)

Not so, Dan Wells says:

Here’s the thing about The Superman Problem: it’s a complete and utter
fallacy. No character actually has this problem unless they’re being
written poorly. The best writers will always find ways to put their
characters into situations where there is no clear “right” choice, and
will strive to pit their characters against conflicts and obstacles they
can’t easily overcome; this applies to Superman just as much as it
applies to anyone else. Yes, Superman can beat up any villain–so what?
Is every good story in the world solved by the main character physically
dominating everyone else? If we truly believe what our mothers tell us
about violence never solving anything, Superman’s ability to punch bad
guys is arguably the most useless super ability ever; a good Superman
story, like a good anyone story, will test his wits, his judgment, his
will, his emotions, and so on.

Great stuff. Makes me want to see the new Superman movie.

2. These Choices Must Be Hard

The most important decisions we make, such as who to marry, whether to change careers, when to have children, are difficult, and we rarely make them in a moment’s notice. Your protagonist shouldn’t either.

3. Cut Superfluous Characters

Stephen Koch says, “The warning sign of a story that is growing disorganized is likely to be too many characters.” It’s difficult to cut characters or merge two together—these are your creations, your friends, after all—but it will tighten your story and add drama.

4. Set the Scene

Readers shouldn’t be confused about where or when your scenes are taking place. Unless it’s already clear, make sure you describe the setting and time at the start of every scene.

5. Three Drafts

Most professional writers write in three drafts. The first is for figuring out what your story is about, the second, for major structural changes, and the third is for polishing. One draft is rarely enough.

Yesterday I set up my writing schedule (using Excel and Google Calendar) for the next month or so and noticed that's what I've started to do: three drafts, just like Joe says.

That's not written in stone, I could see longer projects taking four or so drafts, and shorter projects perhaps only requiring two--or even one! But if it seems a story is going to take more than, say, five drafts I need to think about either doing a rewrite or putting the story away for a bit to get some distance.

But part of the beauty of writing is that it's not the same for everyone. What works brilliantly for me may not for you. What are your basics of good storycraft? Please share. :-)

Thursday, June 6

Ernest Hemingway and Chuck Wendig are two of my favorite writers: Hemingway for his stories and prose, Wendig for his writing on writing.

Ernest Hemingway On How To Write And What To Read

Every year I re-read Hemingway's short story Hills Like White Elephants and marvel. Many times an author will have prose I love but I don't care for their stories/plots or they'll write a great story/plot, but their prose is unimaginative. Ernest Hemingway was brilliant at both.

“The most important thing I’ve learned about writing is never write
too much at a time,” Hemingway said, tapping my arm [a young writer named Samuelson] with his finger.
“Never pump yourself dry. Leave a little for the next day. The main
thing is to know when to stop. Don’t wait till you’ve written yourself
out. When you’re still going good and you come to an interesting place
and you know what’s going to happen next, that’s the time to stop. Then
leave it alone and don’t think about it; let your subconscious mind do
the work. The next morning, when you’ve had a good sleep and you’re
feeling fresh, rewrite what you wrote the day before. When you come to
the interesting place and you know what is going to happen next, go on
from there and stop at another high point of interest. That way, when
you get through, your stuff is full of interesting places and when you
write a novel you never get stuck and you make it interesting as you go
along.”

Hemingway also gave Samuelson a list of books and short stories he thought the young man should read:

“The Blue Hotel” by Stephen Crane
“The Open Boat” by Stephen Crane
Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert
Dubliners by James Joyce
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Buddenbrooks by Thomas Mann
Hail and Farewell by George Moore
The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Oxford Book of English Verse
The Enormous Room by E.E. Cummings
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
Far Away and Long Ago by W.H. Hudson
The American by Henry James

Hemingway also ...

... advised Samuelson to avoid contemporary writers and compete
only with the dead ones whose works have stood the test of time. “When
you pass them up you know you’re going good.”

Chuck Wendig's Stupid Writer Tricks

Let me just say that Chuck Wendig's writer tips and tricks are far from stupid. I've benefited enormously both from his advice and his example (writing 3,000 words a day) and I know other writers have as well.

But I guess if he called them his fabulous writer tricks he'd seem immodest!

Here's Chuck Wendig's tip for how to help yourself get back in the groove the next day:

The Tiniest Outline Of Them All: The last 50-100 words
you write at the end of your day should be a note to yourself detailing
just what ... you should write tomorrow. (“HORACE MURDERS LORD
THORNJIZZ AND THE LITHUANIAN DETECTIVE CIRCUS IS ASSIGNED TO THE CASE”). (Adult language warning--> Ten Stupid Writer Tricks (That Might Actually Work))

Using Excel to track one's progress

I never thought of using Excel--or any spreadsheet program--to track my writing progress (daily, weekly, monthly), my goals, before I started reading Chuck Wendig's posts on writing.

But it works.

I also create events in Google Calendar that send me updates throughout the day reminding me what my goals are.

I know it probably sounds weird/strange, but I find it helps if I get my calendar to nag me!

Often I'll get caught up in a task and not want to stop, but that's exactly what I need to do. For instance, I'll need to stop editing one story and move on to putting more words down for the first draft of another.

Balance.

BOTH writing and editing (though not on the same manuscript, that would just be crazy-making) need to be done each day.

Of course you might be different, have a different method/workflow. There's no one way, whatever works for you. And, generally, we find that out by experimenting, so don't be afraid to try different things.

In your first draft, use a placeholder for things you don't know and keep writing

I started doing something like this after I became a beta reader for a writer who used this trick. Excellent idea!

Often I end up not using a bunch of stuff from my first draft so using placeholders for things I need to research not only prevents me from losing the flow of the story but it also stops me wasting a lot of time researching something I won't use.

I haven't been using an easy-to-locate code so I can find my placeholders easily. But now I will!

Chuck writes:

The WTF Code: Sometimes you’re writing and you hit a
part in the story where you’re just like, “Nope, no ... idea what
happens here. Maybe they fight? Maybe they make love? I’m envisioning an
orangutan for some reason.” Or maybe you reach a portion where you need
more information (“Note to self: research the sewer tunnel layout of
Schenectady”). That’s okay. Leave it blank and drop a code you’ll
remember right into the section, a code that will specifically not be
duplicated anywhere else in the text (WTF2013, for instance). Then when
you complete the first pass of the manuscript, just do a FIND for all
instances of YOUR SEKRIT CODE and hop through your many narrative gaps
and chasms. FILL AND SPACKLE.

Chuck gives great advice in (adult language warning -->) Ten Stupid Writer Tricks, and I encourage you to read it. I know I say that often, but this one's special.

Tuesday, June 4

Why Tags & Traits Are Important

Tags and traits are an important part of characterization, and characterization is important because it helps create a bond of empathy between your characters and your reader.

Empathy And Creating Believable Characters

Jim Butcher writes:

If you can manage to create a vivid character in a reader's mind, then
establish him as someone believable, you have a real shot at the Holy
Grail of character design. If you do your job, you will create a sense
of empathy in your reader for your characters. This is what makes
people burst out laughing while reading. It's what makes readers cry,
or cheer, or run off to take a cold shower.

Like V-Factor,
empathy takes time to build and it relies heavily upon the skilled use
of sequels. But if you can get the reader to this point, as an author,
then you WIN. Big time. This is the ENTIRE GOAL of all this character
work, because the reader's emotional involvement is the single most
important factor in how well your story is going to fly.

Or put
another way, if you can make people love who you want them to love and
hate who you want them to hate, you're going to have readers coming back
to you over and over again. (Characters)

If a writer can establish a bond of empathy between a reader and their characters then the reader is done for, they're hooked. As that expression goes: You've got 'em by the short and curlies.

Isn't that how it feels sometimes? There's a furor over G.R.R. Martin's latest episode of the Game of Thrones: The Red Wedding. This episode was particularly gruesome and some important characters died in shockingly horrible ways.

But I'm betting most people don't stop watching, or stop reading. Why? Because we are involved emotionally with those characters. We empathize with them. We're tied to them.

Tags & Traits: What Are They?

Jim Butcher writes:

But forethought and preparation will play a role in this process, too.
Here's another cool craft-tool for you guys to use: TAGS and TRAITS

TAGS
are words you hang upon your character when you describe them. When
you're putting things together, for each character, pick a word or two
or three to use in describing them. Then, every so often, hit on one of
those words in reference to them, and avoid using them elsewhere when
possible. By doing this, you'll be creating a psychological link
between those words and that strong entry image of your character.

For
example; Thomas Raith's tag words are pale, beautiful, dark hair, grey
eyes. I use them when I introduce him for the first time in each book,
and then whenever he shows up on stage again, I remind the reader of
who he is by using one or more of those words.

This is a really
subtle psychological device, and it is far more powerful than it first
seems. It's invaluable for both you as the writer, and for the
construction of the virtual story for the reader.

TRAITS are like
tags, except that instead of picking specific words, you pick a number
of unique things ranging from a trademark prop to a specific mental
attitude. Harry's traits include his black duster, his staff, his
blasting rod and his pentacle amulet. These things are decorations hung
onto the character for the reader's benefit, so that it's easy to
imagine Harry when the story pace is really rolling.

Similarly,
Bob the Skull's traits are the skull, its eyelights, his intelligence,
his role as a lab assistant, his obsession with sex and his wiseass
dialog. It works for the same reason.

Seriously. Before you
introduce another character, write some tags and traits down. You'll be
surprised how much easier it makes your job. (Characters)

John Yeoman And Choric Orchestration

Here John talks about the power of traits--behavioral traits--in characterization and story building.

John writes:

As soon as Lady Glanedale ‘elevates her eyebrows’ at the master
detective Sage, without deigning to reply to him, we know she’s a wrong
‘un. Whenever Sage ‘mechanically’ fingers his fountain pen, or a
paperweight, or the pages of a book, the reader can deduce that he has
stumbled upon a Clue.

While he listens to witnesses, with no
obvious interest, he compulsively doodles. ‘He drew a cottage upon his
thumbnail.’ With each doodle, the reader expects him to sketch the face
of the true culprit. Maddeningly, he never does.

The behavioral
tics of Sage and his characters dance around the stories like a
demented chorus, singing: ‘Pay attention! This bit is important.’
Remarkably, it works.

Good stuff!

Using tags other than "he said" and "she said"

John Yeoman also talks about how to use tags other than "he said" and "she said." For instance, he gives these examples:

Using a mini-story to set the stage

John Yeoman writes:

This tactic is very useful. It lets you unfold a little story--ominous,
amusing, or whatever you wish--behind the surface narrative, to add
nuances to the main event. The elisions [...] indicate passages of
intervening dialogue.

‘He counted upon his fingers’ ... ‘He ran out of fingers and flapped his hands’ ... ‘He closed his fist abruptly’

‘She
toyed with a paper clip’ ... ‘She bent the paper clip into a little
man’ ... ‘Her paper clip had now acquired two devilish horns’

‘I
traced the outline of a hand upon a sheet of paper with a charcoal
stick’ ... ‘I showed him the outline of my hand’ ... ‘I smudged the
charcoal outline’ ... ‘“The picture is not the event,” I explained. “By
itself, it tells us nothing.”’

Tags and traits, using body actions to convey emotion, using mini-stories to help dialogue flow, I've got a lot to practice tonight!

Ignore The Bad Reviews, The Rejections

In Success, Failure and Caring Dean talks about what makes writing fun for him and how he can ignore the bad reviews and the rejections. Dean writes:

So as a way of helping readers of this blog understand the type of
person I am, why I can take the risks, ignore the bad reviews and
rejections, and fight through the down times, I want to tell you a
short, but personal story that few know. I think it is illustrative of
how the ability to just not fear failure is part of my nature, a nature
that has allowed me to keep taking chances with writing and publishing.

And how that ability, my very nature, colors everything I write here.

I've heard of students putting themselves through college by waitressing, or working at a supermarket--one student I knew paid for her tuition by being a mail carrier.

Dean, though, put himself through college by playing
poker. That's right, by being a professional gambler!

This is what Dean says in one of the comments:

[M]y
attitude from a very early age (and I have no idea where it came from)
was that I could never see a reason to do any kind of job I didn’t like.
Of course, I was broke many times over my life, and homeless a couple
of times, but strangely enough, I never once put together a resume for a
job. (I wouldn’t begin to know how to do that.) I just always had the
attitude that if it wasn’t fun or worthwhile or educational, why bother.

Now, this attitude will cause friends and family no end of grief,
especially early on when they think you are wasting your life and your
(evil word) potential. And it drove a couple of wives nuts along the way
as well. (grin) Kris now, after twenty-seven years, just laughs and
says, “That’s just Dean.” The reason we are still together after 27
years I suspect. (grin)

Do I think other people in the real world should be like me. Oh,
heavens, No! But do I think writers should learn how to let go of the
fears with their own writing, focus on learning to be better writers,
focus on having fun with their writing. Oh, heavens, Yes!

I've sort of jumped the gun by putting Dean's comment up there, before you hear his story, but it was too good to bury.

Dean's Story

Here's Dean's story:

So I ... caught a
ride with three great guys heading for Lovelock, Nevada, in an old
Volkswagon van. When they dropped me in Lovelock, (south of Winnemucca)
it was about two in the morning. I went into the only open hotel and
casino on the main street of town and asked how much a room was. I
really, really wanted a shower and some sleep. But rooms cost $45.00 and
I couldn’t talk the guy down into giving me one for $20 for just a few
hours.

So I wondered over into the small casino, bought myself a candy bar
and a soda with the change I had, leaving me with $22.00. Then I stood
against a pole and watched the only blackjack table going. A single-deck
game with a sloppy dealer who didn’t shuffle well and only one drunk
customer playing dollar chips sitting in the last chair.

The pit boss came over and talked to me after a bit. Friendly guy, so
we talked about me headed back to school and that I had gotten road
weary and needed a break. (I never told him I was hitchhiking. I let him
think I was driving.) I seem to remember he had a kid going to college
in Reno. It was that kind of conversation and he didn’t seem to mind me
standing there. He was facing a long, boring night, and I was a
distraction.

All the while we were talking, I was watching the table and the
cards. And when the deck turned in the player’s favor after a bad
shuffle and the drunk taking some of the bad cards off the top of the
new shuffle, I shrugged at the pit boss, said I might as well spend
something, before heading back out onto the road. I got out my last
twenty bucks and sat down.

At that point the deck had gone to a dreamed-of level where I had
about a 60% advantage on the house, which meant, in reality, I would win
6 out of 10 hands under normal conditions, played over a million hands.
The dealer changed my last twenty into chips and I put five bucks on
the line.

I lost the first hand, put out another five. The deck was even better
now. (That means it was filled to the brim with face cards and aces.)

I won the next five or six hands in a row, doubling up on some of my
bets and all the time laughing with the pit boss and talking about his
kid. He had no clue I was counting the deck. When I had exactly seventy
bucks and the dealer went to shuffle again, I pulled my winnings. “Oh
second thought, I’m too tired to go any farther. I think I’ll get a room
and get a few hours sleep before heading on.”

The pit boss laughed and told me that was a good and smart idea, gave
me a chit that cut ten bucks off my room. I tipped him five, paid for
the room, slept until eight, had a great breakfast and hit the road
again, making it to my mom’s house outside of Boise by dark. And with
more money then when I had left Reno.

I could have just as easily have lost $15 of that twenty, spent a
cold night on the street, bought a light breakfast with the remaining
money. That was the risk I took. But I had a skill and I understood the
chances and the risks and I was willing to take the chance and the risk
for the reward of a hotel room and a shower.

Now that's a great story!

Don't Worry About Failure, Just Write What You Love

You might be wondering what it has to do with writing. Dean continues:

[O]nce I finally applied that same attitude to my writing in 1982,
after really understanding Heinlein’s Rules, I have had little or no
problems. Sure, my career has crashed a couple of times, but I’ve also
had fantastic years, one year alone I published fourteen novels. Sure,
I’ve had books tank and bad reviews, but I’ve also had wonderful reviews
and have sold over eight million copies of my books to wonderful
readers. Sure, I’ve been rejected more times than I care to think about
or count, but I’ve sold more stuff than I can almost count as well. [Emphasis mine]

. . . .

When you step back and look at everything, the risk with this writing
business is little, the choices are many, and the fun is great. I will
write some great stories and some stinkers, I’m sure, as time goes on.
But what does that matter? The readers will let me know one way or
another. For me, now, what is important is having fun with the writing.

. . . .

And why do you think I remember that incident way back in the early
1970s? Because even though I was risking a cold night on the street, I
was having fun with the risk.

Just as I have fun every time I type in a new title and start a new
story that I have no idea where it is going or if it will work.

I always do the best I can and failure is always an option. The key is to train yourself with your writing to just not care.

Saturday, June 1

Last April I started blogging once a day and then, in the middle of May 2012, I started writing two blog posts a day, even on weekends! That was intense ... okay, crazy ... and I went down to one post on Saturdays and Sundays.

I've cut back the past couple of weeks, now I'm blogging five times a week, but I thought I'd write about what blogging every day for a year has taught me.

Great and wonderful things blogging has done for me:

1. Helped me get through writer's block

It sounds silly when I put it like this, but blogging every day has taught me that I can write every day.

Blogging every day helped me get over my fear of the empty page by helping me develop work-arounds.

For instance, I now know I have a much more difficult time writing a first draft on my computer than I do in a journal. If I write my draft long-hand I rarely get writer's block. If I write my draft using a keyboard ... well, that's a non-starter. I'm not sure why this is, but having discovered it out I go directly to my journal.

It takes longer to write all my articles, all my stories, out longhand and then transcribe them into my computer, but the work gets done and that's the important thing.

2. Taught me I'm a horrible judge of what folks will like

I think I have a pretty good handle on what folks find moderately interesting, but I regularly fail miserably at guessing what people will think is tremendously interesting. Articles that I thought would be of interest only to myself and a couple of other cave dwellers have been my most popular, and articles I thought would be insanely popular turned out to be no more popular than average.

What is more interesting, though, is that every single time I felt I was writing uninteresting drek the article was at least as popular as average.

The lesson is that even if everything is screaming at me saying I'm writing drek I need to keep writing. Nine times out of ten the feeling passes and, even if it doesn't, even on my worst day, my writing turns out not to be as terrible as I had thought.

3. In order for me to write about something it has to interest me

It is difficult for me to write about something that doesn't, on some level, interest me.

This is one reason editing is such a chore. At some point in the editing process I begin not only to loath the story, but the very sight of the manuscript gives me hives! Okay, maybe not hives, but I do begin to find reasons, any reason, not to work on it.

My fix? Put the manuscript aside for a time and go on to something else.

How long? It depends. At some point I'll be sitting down, my mind will be wandering, I'll be thinking about future projects and I'll remember a story I put away. Its incompleteness will bother me, like an itch that needs to be scratched. Then I'll reach into my "down time" drawer, pull out the manuscript, and begin working on it again.

Coming back to the story with new eyes is like starting over. And chances are it'll be much easier for me to spot, and fix, its weaknesses.

I realize this--putting your manuscript away in a drawer and forgetting about it for a week or a month--isn't always possible for folks who have external deadlines, but I do think that taking some time away from the work can often help improve it.

The downside of blogging every day:

1. Takes time away from the kind of writing that pays my rent

That's it. That's the only downside, but it's a big one.

Periodically bloggers write about whether folks should blog, or how much folks should blog, but I think it's probably different for every person. Each of us must struggle to find that comfortable medium where we reap a benefit without taking too much time away from the work that puts food on the table.

And, next week, I do promise to write that post about book promotion! (grin)